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Motorbikes: Vespa - it still has that buzz

How does Jamie Oliver carry his groceries from the supermarket? By Vespa of course. How did Gregory Peck woo Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday? By taking her on a romantic ride through the streets of Rome on a Vespa.

If things are useful they last and if they last long enough they become icons. In 1946 the first Vespa — the word means wasp in Italian — married practicality with styling. It was soon as synonymous with scooters as Hoover and Biro are with vacuum cleaners and ballpoint pens.

Originally intended for the masses in post-war Italy, it was the answer to a crippled economy. Affordable and robust, it meant men and women could get to work despite the state of the bombed roads.

Corradino D’Ascanio, an aeronautical engineer, designed it with the non-motorcycling customer in mind. He intended to offer a sleek means of transport with some of the practicalities of